The present invention relates to railway maintenance vehicles and, more particularly, railway maintenance vehicles which are adapted to drive alternatively on the ground or other surface with driveable ground-engaging tires or on railroad tracks on rail-engaging rail wheels allowing selective rail and ground support for the vehicle.
Railway maintenance vehicles having both rail and ground support capabilities with respect to maintenance equipment such as dump trucks, cranes, and the like, have been provided heretofore. One such prior vehicle is shown, by way of example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,297. In a hi-rail position, the tires engage the flanges of the rail wheels to propel the vehicle. In many prior art systems the structure to support the hi-rail equipment is integrated into the structure of the vehicle along with the hydraulic and electrical control systems. In these systems, some of the controls must be reversed when in the hi-rail position because the tires drive the rail wheels in the opposite direction as compared to normal driving position. Control of the hi-rail system is accomplished through the OEM electrical swivel-rings for crane applications. These systems are costly to build, and require extensive modifications to the OEM vehicle. Additionally, the modifications are not readily or easily reversed.